harper



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

P. HARPER.

GRAIN BINDING MACHINE. No. 404,479. Patented June 4, 1889..

(No Model.) 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. F. HARPER. GRAIN BINDING MACHINE.

Patented June 4, 1889. Y

Illlll Ii lllillill UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK HARPER, OF AUBURN, ASSIGNOR TO THE D. M. OSBORNE & COMPANY, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y. r

'GRAlN-BINDING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,479, dated June 4, 1889.

Application filed June 16, 1888.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK HARPER, of Auburn, in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Grain-Binding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of cordholders which consist of a rotary notched disk and a shoe or clamp urged against the IO edge of the disk by a sgring.

My improvement is intended more particularly for use with those disks which are free to turn forward under the stress of the cord in order to render or slacken the cord toward T 5 the tyer during the revolution of the latter, as shown, for example, in the application of H. J. Case, Serial No. 277,286, June 16, 1888. Devices of this class are without gearing or stop mechanism to retard or prevent the ro- 2o tation of the disk, reliance being placed upon the frictional resistance of the cord and shoe to prevent the disk from turning forward under the stress of the cord at improper times. It is therefore necessary that the cord shall be subjected to a practically uniform pressure during the entire course of its passage between the shoe and disk, that the shoe shall be free to rise from the disk to receive the cord at one end without releasingthe 3o cord held at the opposite end, and that the disk shall be prevented from turning so far as to release the cord at improper times. In

order to meet these requirementsand secure the proper action, I mount the shoe so that it 5 may rise from the disk at either end independently of the other and provide it at the delivery end with a shoulder to assist in retaining the cord. In this manner I am enabled to grasp and hold the cord securely, to

0 slacken it at the proper time and no other,

and to prevent the accidental escape of its end from the holder. The shoulder at the deliveryend of the shoe is of peculiar benefit in'my combination, since it permits the shoe to be adjusted so that it will hold the disk from rotating at improper times, but will permit it to turn during theforma-tion of the knot without liability of releasing the cord.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is so an end elevation showing my device in connection with the breast-plate, needle, tyer,

Serial No. 277,292. (No model.)

and other co-operating parts of the binder. Fig. 2 is a top plan view looking downward from the line as :0, Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 are top plan views showing the clamping devices, 5 5 with the cord in different positions therein. Figs. 5 and 6 are plan views showing equivalent constructions.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the binder deck or table on which the grain is received; B, the vibratory-needle or cord-carrying arm; O, the overlying breast-plate to confine the gavel; D, the rotary tying-bill;

E, its operating-wheel, and F, the cord-guiding and knife-carrying arm.

The foregoing parts are of the ordinary construction used in the well-known Osborne- Appleby binders of the present day.

G represents the peripherally-notched cordholding disk mounted beyond or behind the tyer on a fixed stud or journal II. The disk lies in a plane oblique to the axis of the tyer and in position to receive the cord from the needle at its edge farthest from the tyer.

I represents the co-operating clamp or shoe, grooved to receive one edge of the disk, and providedat one end with a transverse slot d to receive the fixed pivot 2". This pivot, passing through the slot, prevents the clamp from moving endwise. The clamp is, however, free to swing around the pivot as a center to and from the disk, and also, by reason of the slot, to move laterally in respect to the pivot at one end, and thereby to move to and from the disk. The last-named movement occurs at the receiving end of the clamp-that is to say, at the end where the cord first passes be tween the clamp and disk.

K is a spring fastened at one end by a bolt in or other suitable device to a fixed support,

and bearing at the opposite end against the clamp I to force the same toward the disk. The spring bears on the outside of the clamp,

at or near the middle of its active portionthat is to say, the portion which acts 011 the disk.

Itwill be observed that under the construction and arrangement shown the clamp may be forced outward from the disk at either end independently of the other, each end serving I00 as a bearing or fulcrum as the other end'is lifted by the cord passing thereunder. In

other words, the clamp is permitted to adjust itself freely to the edge of the disk and to the cord passing between the two. \V hen, therefore, the second end of the cord or of the ap plied band is drawn between the clamp and disk, it does not lift the opposite end of the clamp from the disk.

It will be observed that the clamp is provided at the delivery end with a shoulder 11 pro ecting inward over the side of the disk toward its center. During the rotation of the tyer the stress of the cord is such that the latter causes the disk to turn on its axis, the end of the cord passing with the disk from the receiving toward the delivery end of the clamp until it encounters the shoulder, by which it is arrested or retarded, so as to prevent further rotation of the disk and prevent the cord from passing beyond the clamp, as it would otherwise be liable to do.

Vhile I prefer to retain the construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4:, fair results maybe attained by pivoting the clamp provided with the cord-retarding shoulder to the end of the actuating-spring, as shown in Fig. 5, or by seating it against the edge of the disk be tween stationary guides 1), subject to the pressure of a central spring K, as in Fig. 6.

I do not claim, broadly, herein a disk and co-opcrating clamp arranged in the particular relations to the tyer herein shown, this relative arrangement of parts, with the clamp pivoted in the ordinary manner to permit the yielding of the cord to the knotter during the tying operation, being the invention of an other. Neither do I claim as myinvention a clamp or shoe operating in connection with a disk, the clamp mounted at one endon a fixed pivot and provided at the other end with a cord-retainin g shoulder.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a grai1i-l' i1ide1',tlie combination, substantially as described and shown, of a rotary tying-bill, the rotary cord-holding disk provided with a series of peripheral cord-receivin g notches mounted on a stationary axis to turn freely under the stress of the cord and in position to receive the cord at the side farthest from the tyer, the cord-clamping shoe embracing the edge of the disk and adapted to confine the two ends of the applied cord in successive notchcs of the disk, and mounted, substantially as described, to rise from the disk at either endindependentlyof the other, the spring acting to urge the clamp toward the disk, and the needle or binder arm arranged to lay the cord across the tyer to the distant edge of the disk, whereby the disk enabled to receive and hold both ends of the cord and to turn under the stress of the cord, so as to yield the latter to the tyer during the formation of the knot.

52. In a grain-binder, the combination of the rotary tying-bill, the rotary cord-holding disk provided with peripheral notches and mounted to turn freely on an axis fixed in relation to the tyer and in position to receive the cord at the side farthest from the tyer, the shoe or clamp embracing the edge of the disk and provided at the delivery end with the cordretaining shoulder adapted to con fine the cord in successive notches thereof and free to rise from the disk at either end independently of the other, the pressure-spring acting upon the shoe midway of its length, and the cord carrying arm or needle arranged to lay the cord across the tyer and thence to the distant edge of the disk, whereby the one clampis enabled to hold the two ends of the applied ban d and to slacken the cord to the tyer during the formation of the knot without the assistance of mechanism to turn or to retard the disk.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, this 28th day of May, 1888, in the presence of two attesting witnesses.

' FRANK HARPER. \Vitnesses:

J. FRANK DAVIS, \VM. M. BUTTERFIELD. 

